Rita Panahi: Double standards galore in huge week of anti-Trump Left’s hypocrisy
London’s Leftist protesters have disgraced themselves with ugly, infantile and often violent antics, throwing milkshakes and assaulting elderly Trump supporters. But they’ve only revealed their own sickening hypocrisy, writes Rita Panahi.
Rita Panahi
Don't miss out on the headlines from Rita Panahi. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The stench of hypocrisy has been stronger than usual this week. We’ve seen some journalists who a few years ago backed Labor’s proposed press regulation laws suddenly wake up to why it’s not a good idea for the government to police the media’s work.
Illiberal attacks against press freedom are never acceptable, but too many journalists are happy to support them when it’s their ideological opponents in the crosshairs.
Hypocrisy has been evident in sporting circles, too.
We’ve seen the same people who think it’s OK for rugby star Israel Folau to be sacked for sharing his religious beliefs on his own Instagram page applaud indigenous rugby league stars for boycotting the national anthem at tonight’s State of Origin opener.
Given that most elite league players never sing the anthem, the likes of Josh Addo-Carr, Cody Walker, Will Chambers and Latrell Mitchell could have had their silent on-field protest without anyone being aware but thanks to the players’ activism, their anti-anthem stance has made news around the world.
There is even talk from federal politicians, Liberal and Labor, about changing the words of the anthem.
Meanwhile, NRL chairman Peter Beattie has unequivocally ruled out Folau returning to rugby league, despite at least one club being interested in recruiting the former Wallaby. Beattie said on Wednesday: “Our position on Israel Folau remains the same. We are an inclusive game with a respect for all. Israel has social media posts online that go against what our game stands for. As it stands, he will not be considered for registration.”
Clearly, “respect for all” doesn’t include devout Christians with Instagram accounts. But Beattie had a markedly different point of view when it came to the Origin anthem protesters.
“We’re supportive of them,” he said. “We’re not going to make a big thing out of it, we respect the right to have a different view.”
So, they respect the views of players who advocate Leftist grievance politics no matter how divisive, but a Christian quoting the Bible is out on his ear?
For the record, I do not want to see the rugby league players sacked or even sanctioned for their on-field protest, just like Folau should not be deprived of his livelihood for stating his religiously held beliefs about hellbound sinners.
See, it’s not hard to be consistent. But perhaps the greatest hypocrisy this week has been in international politics where activists continue to give China a pass while protesting against democratically elected US President Donald Trump.
In the week of the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, we saw three Chinese warships dock in Sydney Harbour without protesters taking to the streets and demanding China acknowledge its ongoing human rights abuses.
You can be sure the usual suspects would be out in force if it was President Trump visiting us, instead of the warships of a country that to this day brutally persecutes political dissidents, locks up over a million Uighur Muslims in “re-education camps”, persecutes Christians and other religious minorities, imposes harsh punishments including arbitrary detention, and runs a North Korea- style “social credit system”.
I could go on but there is not enough space on this page to detail all of China’s human rights abuses, let alone what it did to protesters in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
When China’s President Xi Jinping visited the UK in 2015, there were no baby balloons or outraged protesters in the streets. There were no Labour Party MPs attending anti-Xi protests and launching online campaigns against his visit.
In fact, the Chinese Communist Party ruler, who may rule indefinitely after overseeing the Chinese parliament’s scrapping of presidential term limits last year, is feted wherever he goes.
The feral Left reserves its venom for Trump instead of a dictator whose government is guilty of egregious acts of bastardry at home and abroad. Few dare to question Xi about the brutal manner in which China deals with its citizens. In the past 24 hours, Leftist protesters in London have disgraced themselves with ugly, infantile and often violent antics, including throwing milkshakes and assaulting elderly Trump supporters and screaming obscenities at anyone who doesn’t share their crazy notions.
Some of the UK Labour MPs behind the public protests are suddenly keen to distance themselves from the fallout.
MORE: SIX-WORD SIGN SUMS UP TRUMP VISIT
ABC RAIDED DAY AFTER HERALD SUN JOURNALIST’S HOME
Labour’s shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry, called the behaviour of protesters who attacked a man en masse “a stain on a great event”, but it’s a little rich to be tut-tutting the very hysteria and violence she fanned.
Last week, she posted a video imploring Londoners to protest against Trump, whom she labelled “a racist and sexual predator” who “is trying to take away the rights of women to control our own bodies”.
Imagine spewing that unhinged nonsense and then being shocked that violent Leftist protesters behaved violently.
Meanwhile, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who has described terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah as “friends”, also attended an anti-Trump protest and boycotted the banquet held in the President’s honour. But he was, of course, more than happy to attend the banquet for President Xi in 2015. The hypocrisy is sickening.
— Rita Panahi is a Herald Sun columnist
Human cost of pandemic goes much further than virus
Whether you are pro or anti-lockdown the grim, unintended consequences of the fixation on coronavirus are undeniable, as other diseases — including cancer and heart disease — go unchecked, and despair from joblessness, poverty and financial stress rises, writes Rita Panahi.
Will buck really stop with Dan after disastrous decisions?
While Daniel Andrews repeats the “we’re all in this together” mantra, the reality is only the private sector is making huge financial sacrifices as he refuses to face up to scrutiny over the hotel quarantine fiasco and contact tracing chaos, writes Rita Panahi.